I have rather a lot to write as I havnt been on here in YONKS....simply because i've been having the time of me leeefff!!! So much has happened and so much to tell, hope i don't bore you, but I will start from where I left off...
We had just arrived in Jaiselmer and were sitting on the rooftop of our hostel sipping a chai and catchin the rays!! Our main purpose for visiting jaiselmer was to go on camel safari in the indian desert, so we sat with one of the guides to arrange!! After a bit of bartering on Vickys part we managed to book a trek for 1500 rupees....and spent the rest of the day exploring the city and doing a bit of shopping ( bought about 5 million anklets, all of which I have now lost!!)
In the evening we sat and watched the sunset from the rooftops whilst chatting with workers from the hostel who proceeded to tell us all about life in india. They were all lovely, and i was begining to like the indians more and more the further south we got. One of the men told us how all the stray cows that rome india are left to eat the rubbish off the streets...their bellies get so full of plastic that they cant eat anymore and end up dying of starvation. And cows are meant to be HOLY in india???!!
The following day we set off on our trek. Luckily we had a really good group which consisted of us, 3 australian girls, a greek guy and an indian dude named Santosh. Before we'd even got on the camels one spat on me...great start!! Especially as their mucus was positively green and smelt like cabbage!! They continued to fart and poo for the rest of the journey!! We stopped a few times, and the men of the desert cooked us delicious desert delights....until we finally arrived at a sand dune where we would set up camp for the night!!....the camel journey was EXTREMELY uncomfortable and at this point i had serious bottom injuries (chafing!) right up my crack.
We then all sat round a camp fire whilst the men cooked us dinner. Santosh played us some of his bhangra tunes which i am learning to LOVE!! And taught us some of his latest moves as well. It got us all dancing round the fire, and the atmosphere was simply magic. The men of the desert then sang us traditional songs using plastic bottles and tin plates as instruments. Following this, the camel men suggested "a night time camel trek"....which at the time sounded very appealing...
However after being lured into the desert in the dead of night in seperate groups we started to get a little suspicious!!! When one of them then said "you girls want to come to private sand dune and make private fire??"....our suspicions were confirmed. Vicky saved the day and demanded they take us back!! Poor camel men, i guess they were just trying their luck...but NO sorry!! We returned to camp safe and sound and all slept out under the stars. It was divine....saw a few shooting ones, made a few wishes and all was good!!!
The journey back to the hostel was via camel which did my sore bottom no good at all. but the only other option was walking!! After a quick shower we then had to jump on a bus to Mumbai!! Another horrific journey...involving us being thrown around at the back of the bus for about 10 hours!! To be honest, I'm suprised to be alive!! At 3am we arrived somewhere in the middle of nowhere...it was here that we had to catch a connecting train to Mumbai...
This journey was even worse than the bus, as we were all rammed in together on the most hideousley uncomfy seats for about 7 hours!! The heat was unbearable and the stench of sweat progressively got worse. Arrived in Mumbai in the blackest mood EVER....we got driven around for about an hour in stifling heat looking for a hostel with a taxi driver who spoke absolutely NO english. Everytime we stopped beggars would come up to the car door and stick their amputated arms through the windows in the hope of a few rupees. This is the part of India that I hate!! Its sad...but theres really nothing you can do about it, and you end up just becoming really irritated.
Eventually we found a hostel at the Salvation Army. It was a tad pricey but at this point we had given up!!! We also gave up on Indian food for a day and opted for the dominos option....my first pizza of the trip!! The following day we were offered to be extras in a bollywood movie which i would have loved to do, but we only had one day in Mumbai and I really wanted to do a tour of the slums. So we booked one for the afternoon and spent the morning eating, drinking and shopping...........Mumbai was HOOTTT, and i looked like a sweaty mess by the time we had to visit the slums...
The slums were incredible in every sense of the word. I dont know what I was expecting. I guess I just expected complete poverty, but it wasnt really like that. In fact it was a lot cleaner than Delhi in some parts and there was a real sense of community. First we were taken to the area where everyone works. The men work in horrendus conditions....for a ten hour day they receive just over a POUND!!!....i am going to try my hardest to NEVER complain about my job again (please remind me of this when i do!!)!! We were then taken down loads of little alley ways to visit peoples homes. To be honest the conditions weren't as bad as I thought. It was a tad cosy, and compared to western living standards it was awful...but everyone seemed happy enough, especially the children who were soooo happy to see us. However we were then taken to a rubbish tip where all the kids play. This was the saddest picture. The children were literally playing in squalor!! There were flies everywhere, and they were happy to play with broken bits of plastic and old bits of food....yet they seemed HAPPY!!...I really need to start appreciating my life more!!
After leaving the slums, we headed back for an early night as we had an early train to goa in the morning!! On the way back we saw loads of Indian carol singers, so we joined in for a bit of "ding dong merrily on high", before hitting the hay ready for a a crazy 2 weeks of beach, parties and shhhhhhunsine baby...
to be continued...
